Clerk Ines Ayala, left, and Deputy Democratic Registrar of Voters Patricia Howard count Guy Smiths petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor in the Registrar of Voters office in Bridgeport, Conn. June 12, 2108. less

Clerk Ines Ayala, left, and Deputy Democratic Registrar of Voters Patricia Howard count Guy Smiths petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor in the Registrar of Voters office in ... more

Guy Smith, of Greenwich, arrives at the Bridgeport Registrar of Voters office to present his signature petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor, June 12, 2018 in Bridgeport, Conn.

Guy Smith, of Greenwich, arrives at the Bridgeport Registrar of Voters office to present his signature petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor, June 12, 2018 in Bridgeport, Conn.

Guy Smith, of Greenwich, arrives at the Bridgeport Registrar of Voters office to present his signature petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor, June 12, 2018 in Bridgeport, Conn.

Guy Smith, of Greenwich, arrives at the Bridgeport Registrar of Voters office to present his signature petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor, June 12, 2018 in Bridgeport, Conn.

Guy Smith, of Greenwich, looks on as clerk Ines Ayala, left, and Deputy Democratic Registrar of Voters Patricia Howard count his petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor in the Registrar of Voters office in Bridgeport, Conn. June 12, 2108. less

Guy Smith, of Greenwich, looks on as clerk Ines Ayala, left, and Deputy Democratic Registrar of Voters Patricia Howard count his petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor in the Registrar ... more

Guy Smith, of Greenwich, looks on as clerk Ines Ayala, left, and Deputy Democratic Registrar of Voters Linda Grace count his petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor in the Registrar of Voters office in Bridgeport on Tuesday. less

Guy Smith, of Greenwich, looks on as clerk Ines Ayala, left, and Deputy Democratic Registrar of Voters Linda Grace count his petitions to get on the Democratic primary ballot for governor in the Registrar of ... more

Lauretti drops bid as a Republican, considers independent run for governor

1 / 9

Back to Gallery

UPDATE: 10 a.m.

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti fell short in his signature drive to qualify for the August primary ballot as a Republican candidate for governor. But he said he has not ruled out a run as an independent candidate.

“We fell short of the mark so we decided that we wouldn’t futher burden the overburdened registrars of voters with the very complex system they have to deal with,” Lauretti said Wednesday morning. “We lost two weeks and I think that made a big difference in the number of signatures we were able to garner. The convention process is an inside baseball game and unless you’re an inside player it’s a tough sell.”

Lauretti said he collected about 8,500 signatures. He needed 9,081 to qualify and candidates traditionally collect a surplus as it’s common for some to be disqualified.

He’s not going quietly though. Lauretti slammed the field of candidates who’ve qualified for the Republican ballot, including frontrunners Mark Boughton and Tim Herbst.

“Unlike most or some of the other candidates I have a base and I have a record and they don’t and if they do have a record it’s not a good one,” Lauretti said. “Herbst has been working at this for four years and Boughton’s been working at it for 12, and I’ve been doing my job and getting results for the people of the state of Connecticut.”

Original story:

All over Connecticut, candidates trying to petition their way to the mid-August primaries delivered hundreds of pages of signatures to local voter registrars to beat a 4 p.m. deadline Tuesday.

In Bridgeport, Guy Smith, of Greenwich, a former liquor industry executive, strolled into the Bridgeport Government Center shortly after 11 a.m. delivering 114 pages of petition signatures. Next he was on his way, in a black Ford Suburban, to New Haven and Hartford in his attempt to qualify for the Democratic primary for governor.

“Everything about running for governor is hard and everything about Connecticut is hard,” Smith said on the sunny sidewalk before walking in with a bulging manila folder. “There was no expectation that it was going to be easy. The petitions are indeed hard because the rules are very convoluted and different from other states. It’s more difficult in Connecticut than other states.”

Democrats need to present 15,458 valid signatures of registered party voters, while Republicans, with smaller statewide enrollment, need 9,081. Candidates need to plan for an many as 20 percent being disqualified, due to clerical errors and possibly unregistered voters signing their names. The registrars have seven days to validate them and send them to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill for a final verdict before the end of the month.

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, who did not begin the petitioning campaign until after he failed to get the required 15 percent support among delegates to last month’s GOP convention, said it was easier to collect $100 each from 3,000 people to qualify for the public-financing program than it was to convince enough delegates to support him.

“I’ve been a successful public servant for 27 years and our party doesn’t acknowledge it,” Lauretti said.

Speaking Monday night in a phone interview, Lauretti said that it was “an insider game” that resulted in Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton’s endorsement, while Tim Herbst, former Trumbull first selectman, and Steve Obsitnik, a tech entrepreneur from Westport, reached the convention thresholds to automatically qualify for the primary.

Other Republican hopefuls petitioning their way onto the gubernatorial ballot include businessmen David Stemerman, of Greenwich, and Bob Stefanowski, of Madison. If all Republicans qualify, Connecticut could have a six-way GOP primary.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, another Democrat who hopes to petition his way to challenge Ned Lamont for the gubernatorial nomination, held an afternoon news conference in Hartford to cap off his petition campaign, which yielded more than 32,000 signatures.